Thank you all for your compliments on Dame Anne's design. I had a lot of fun doing it and you'll see why in a minute. Very few people have an eye for design. Truth to tell, I'm not one of them either. I just try to figure out what I see in you and pull, twist, and turn that into something (I hope) is representative of your character. Someone asked in my guestbook, "where are you in all this layout?" While my answer was, "in the words," the truth is my diary's design is also me. It's structured, business like look says a lot about how I interact with the world. It is my "character" but it is also who I am. I'm not hiding and I'm no different in private. I'm constant and predictable as that is what I like.

Dame Anne's site needed to be different. I dubbed her Southern Comfort recently as I find her presence and demeanor both calming and inviting. Through our email conversations I got a sense of what she wanted out of her "look and feel". Below are some of her requirements while to the right are the elements that I used to created her badge.

"I hate [my design] being so plain but I am not looking for busy either. I would like to do something with my heraldic colors of red, black and white and using my badge. However, I am not looking for the Goth look. Shall we say I am looking for classy-fluffy."

"I like the tailored look. I like the image in the left corner and the title. The problem I am having with my vision is the colors. Do not want the diary to appear as type on black or white, perhaps a light gray to denote silver? But then if we border in black it looks like mourning."

"My badge is a red heart with a superimposed white gothic A and surmounted by a silver baronial coronet. I am partial to deeper more blued reds, light end would be cranberry dark end would be burgundy. Hate pinks or orange red. My motto is Grace by Choice (Electione Gratia)."

"If we used anything as a motif I guess it would be a page from a prayer book or book of hours if that was possible. I have a couple of downloaded pictures of them if they would inspire you. The thought would be to start there but to make sure it was not too busy like use the illumination border down one side perhaps."

"Just a thought and really, I care but don't care about this. Meaning, if I change it I want it to "speak to me and of me" but I am fine with what I have indefinitely."

As you can see, I didn't exactly go in the direction she wanted. I really felt that with her, I could get a lot of mileage out of the "less is more" concept. This took my thought process down a less than standard path. I wanted something that said books without looking like a book. I wanted to use her badge without it looking like a badge. I wanted it to be calming and inviting. The idea of a bookmark struck me on a couple of levels as particularly appropriate (I'll leave you to figure out why...you're smart). Problem was, I couldn't find any images online that fit; so I made one. It had to be classy, fluffy, and delicate. The three items below make up the remaining elements of her design. All other work is done using Photoshop and Dreamweaver. To visit the final product, simple click the picture below.

So remember, if you ask me for a design, you might not get what you think. You will, however, get something uniquely you.

Anyway, for them what care, there it is.